Two goals by Marouane Chamakh, one of them the fastest Arsenal have ever scored in the Premier League and the other arriving in second-half stoppage time, left Wolverhampton Wanderers harbouring a familiar lament last night.

Heartily sick as he is of seeing his players cast as heroic losers, Mick McCarthy had little choice other than to praise them for another near miss against the big fry after Arsenal had eased the pressure that had descended once more following successive defeats in Europe and at home against Newcastle United.

Wolves' manager showed grace, though, that others might have struggled to extend in accepting as an accident a reckless, late Cesc Fábregas tackle that led to Stephen Ward being taken off on a stretcher to the dressing room just before the end. The referee Mark Halsey consulted his perfectly placed assistant before reaching for a yellow card for the Arsenal captain when the side's fifth red of the season seemed a distinct possibility.

Molineux's collective hackles were raised by the incident – a predictable reaction to the dismay the home club have felt at being labelled this autumn as over-physical. But McCarthy was pacified by the appearance of Fábregas in the home dressing room to apologise afterwards and check on the damage to Ward's gashed leg.

"I have no problem with it at all," he insisted. "Wardy has accepted it like a man. This has been like a throwback to the old days where one player catches a player with a mistimed tackle, buys him a pint afterwards and the other says he will get him back later in the season.

"What I can't stand is people whingeing at my players. It's all amateur dramatic bullshit."

The reaction was particularly generous given that Fábregas (right) threaded through the pass seconds later for Chamakh to clip in off Marcus Hahnemann's hand for the killer goal, his eighth of the campaign, at a time when Wolves were pushing hard for an equaliser.

At the end of a succession of near misses, Kevin Doyle drove inches wide of the far post and Christophe Berra brought an outstanding full-length save from Lukasz Fabianski, the goalkeeper having already staked a claim for star billing with a tip-over from Doyle's 20-yarder and a claw-away from Sébastien Squillaci's first-half deflection.

Arsenal looked vulnerable to crosses by Stephen Hunt and the impressive Matt Jarvis, with Kevin Foley and Doyle also sending headers off target. It summed up Fabianski's return to favour that, in addition to shutting Wolves out at one end, his throw-outs led to both goals at the other.

"The victory was so important that we focused more on defending in this game," said the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. "We still had many chances but you have to give credit to Wolves. They are a good side and are always dangerous.

"Chamakh was sick all last week and only played for an hour on Sunday but I thought he would be sharper tonight."

The Moroccan international, signed early in the summer on a free transfer after his contract expired at Bordeaux, had not scored away from home for the club in the Premier League until becoming the latest beneficiary of Wolves' generous defending.

It was deep in stoppage time that the 2009 Championship winners were beaten both at Old Trafford on Saturday and with 10 men at the Emirates in April.

But the damaging first incision here arrived after only 37 seconds. Tomas Rosicky initiated an attack that was continued by Alex Song's right-wing centre and turned to substantial profit as Chamakh drifted away from Richard Stearman to plant a fine downward header past Hahnemann's right hand.

Only the American's fine save denied a clean-through Andrey Arshavin following Stearman's mistake shortly afterwards, then Fábregas drove a shot against the goalkeeper's knees from near the penalty spot.

Despite losing David Edwards through an early foot injury, though, Wolves regained some ground as the half wore on, having hit back from behind to beat Manchester City 12 days ago. And they were the better side in the second half, although Fábregas casually drove wide an opportunity gifted to him by Stearman's dreadful pass and Arshavin was unlucky with a low shot on the run that struck the foot of the far post.

Position-wise, the status quo was preserved for both teams, Arsenal remaining third and Wolves – now beaten in seven of their last nine league games – kept off the bottom only by their neighbours West Bromwich Albion's late equaliser at West Ham. "We have to score when we play as well as that," McCarthy added. "Fabianski was hopeless for Newcastle's goal on Sunday but he was brilliant here."